mom, a black father, raised in indonesia and hawaii, and i was beginning toceps how fitting in to the world might not be as simple as it might seem. to see this man, this senator, this powerful, accomplished person who was not when it came to what you think a senator might look like at the time. the way he commanded the respect of the entire nation, i think it hinted to me what might be possible in my own life. this was a man who, as a teenager, stepped up to serve his country, even after his fellow japanese-americans were declared enemy aliens. a man who believed in america even when its government didn't necessarily believe in him. that meant something to me. it gave me a powerful sense, one that i couldn't put into words, a powerful sense of hope. as i watched those hearings, listening danny ask those pierces questions night after night, i learned something else. i learned how our democracy was supposed to work, our government, of, and by and for the people. we have a system of government where nobody's above the law, where we have an obligation to hold each other account
